Snare drum brush



Jan. 7, 1969 c. P. CORDES SNARE DRUM BRUSH Filed May 19, 1967 CHARLES P CORDES ATTORNEY 5.

United States Patent 3,420,134 SNARE DRUM BRUSH Charles P. Cordes, 27 Kenneth Place, Clark, NJ. 07066 Filed May 19, 1967, Ser. No. 639,759 US. Cl. 84-422 Claims Int. Cl. Gd 13/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention Prior art snare drum brushes have traditionally been made of a plurality of fine wire filaments which may be extended from or retracted into a hollow elongated handle member. Such a construction has presented numerous drawbacks, the primary one being the fragile wire bristles per se. A drummer had to be extremely careful With these prior art bristles, both in the handling of them while playing and also in .the storage of the brushes, since the fine metal wire filaments were very susceptible to bending. Once the filaments became bent, twisted or broken. they were apt to become jammed within the tubular handle member or would stick out at unusual angles from the main body of filaments where they were susceptible to being snagged on foreign objects, such as the edge of the drum, thereby hindering the drummer in their proper use. Once the steel wire kinks, it is impossible to straighten it out to its former position and it would be necessary to cut it off, there-by leaving a sharp stiff piercing strand.

Another drawback in the use of Wire bristles for snare drum brushes resides in the fact that the wire bristles in use tend to Wear to a sharp end or point. This sharp point finds the minute holes in natural skin drum heads thereby causing a break in the drum skin or at least making the holes larger. The wire brushes are sometimes plated with another metal to increase the durability of the wire tips but after use the plating wears off and the exposed raw metal blackens the drum head. This dark film builds up to a heavy coating and has to be scrubbed off the drum head since, if it is left on, it has a mufiling effect on the sound of the drum.

In the making of the conventional wire brush, a heavy wire rod is ordinarily used to draw the wires into and out of the handle or tube for storing purposes. If you try to push the Wires into the tube without this rod, the wire ends, which are relatively sharp, are apt to pierce the hands or fingers. Also, the use of this heavy wire member results in a much longer drum member which is difficult to store. Frequently in storage, the wire rod is apt to be bent thereby rendering the extension and retraction of the wire filaments difiicult.

A further drawback of the prior art wire brushes is that the desired shape of the brush in its extended position has to be achieved by spreading or fanning the wire filaments into the desired shape. The wire filaments tend to stay relatively close together until the brush is entirely extended from the handle at which time the filaments will spread out to a fan shaped position. Thus, the spread of the bristles must always be accomplished by hand.

The snare drum beater of the present invention overco-mes all of the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent with metal wire brushes. The filaments of the present brush are constructed of plastic material having a relatively large diameter as compared with the diameter of the metal wire filaments. When the filaments are constructed of plastic in this manner, they do not have any 3,420,134 Patented Jan. 7, 1969 tendency to kink or bend and are of such a diameter that they will not tend to catch in the holes of a natural skin drum head. The larger diameter or thickness of the individual bristles present a blunt end which will not stick into the hand or fingers of the drummer. Because ofthis feature, it is possible to eliminate the usual heavy wire rod for extending and retracting the bristles 0r filaments since they may now be merely grasped in the hands of the drummer and pulled out of or pushed into the hollow handle. The elimination of the heavy wire rod also shortens the overall length of the drum beater to facilitate storage thereof.

The use of plastic filaments prevent the dark film referred to above from building up on the head of the drum and muffling the sound of the drum. A plastic bristle or filament also has more bounce and rebound on the drum head than wire. By the use of plastic filaments, a sharper sound on the drum. and a more brillant sound on the cymbals are achieved. Also an improved swishing effect (moving the brush side to side while in contact with the drum head) is achieved.

The plastic filaments of the present drum brush are provided with a close friction fit in the oval shaped opening at the end of the hollow tubular handle through which the filaments protrude. By means of this close fit, it is possible to retain the plastic filaments in any position of extension without slippage. The oval shaped opening also enables the bristles to achieve a variable spread as they are extended at different distances from the mouth of the handle.

Summary of the invention The invention is directed to a snare drum brush comprising a hollow cylindrical handle member having an oval-shaped opening at one end thereof, a plurality of plastic filaments of substantially equal length slidably mounted longitudinally of said handle and protruding from said oval shaped end, and :means for securing the ends of the filaments together which are disposed internally of said handle.

Other features of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying-drawings, which disclose by Way of example, the principles of the invention in the best mode which has been contemplated of applying those principles.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the snare drum brush with the bristle filaments retracted within the handle structure;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the snare drum brush with the filaments shown in their extended position;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 in FIGURE 2.

Turning now to the specific construction of the snare drum brush, an elongated hollow cylindrical handle member 10 is formed of any suitable rigid plastic material. The plastic may be transparent as shown in FIGURE 1 or may be of any desired color. A cap member 12 is provided to close one end of the hollow handle member 10. The cap member may be made of any suitable materials, such as rubber, plastic, metal or the like, and is usually provided with a simple friction fit upon the end of the handle. It is contemplated, however, that the connection between the end closure and the handle may be a screw connection, a snap-on connection, or other suitable connections. The opposite end of the handle 10 is partially flattened at 14 to provide a substantially oval shaped opening 16.

A plurality of plastic bristles or filaments 18 are disposed within the handle 10 and protrude outwardly of the handle through the oval-shaped opening 16. The filaments 18 may be constructed of monofilament nylon or any other suitable plastic material. A number of filaments 18 employed in a particular brush construction is sufficient to completely fill the oval-shaped opening 16 as is best shown in FIGURE 4. The filaments 18 are substantially equal length and the ends of the bristles which are disposed within the handle are held in a blind bore 20 drilled or otherwise suitably formed in one end of a plug member 22. The number of filaments 18 is usually sufiicient to provide a coarse fit within the bore 20, but a suitable adhesive is usually applied within the bore 20 to securely hold the ends of the filaments 18 therein. The bore 20 usually only extends a short distance into the plug 22 and the remainder of the plug is utilized as a weight. The plug 22 is usually formed of a metal material and the length of the plug may be varied to achieve the desired balance or weight distribution for the snare drum brush when the filaments 18 are in their fully extended position as shown in FIGURE 2. Since plastics are generally lighter than metals, the weighted plug member 22 is utilized to give the same feel or balance to the brush that a drummer would have when using the old prior art metal brushes. The diameter of the plug 22 is such that it substantially fills the hollow cylindrical handle while still enabling the plug member to freely slide within the handle.

When the brush of the present invention is being stored, the filaments 18 are substantially completely retracted within the hollow handle member 10 with the plug 22 being disposed adjacent the closed end of the handle. A sufiicient length of the filaments 18 protrudes from the oval-shaped opening 16 to enable the drummer to grasp the filaments 18 to pull the filaments outwardly of the 'hollow handle to the position shown in FIGURE 2. Depending upon the spread of the filaments desired by the drummer, the filaments 18 may be pulled out to any distance intermediate the positions shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 and the tight fit of the filaments 18 within the oval-shaped openings 16 will enable the filaments to be retained at such an intermediate position. Due to the ovalshaped opening 16, the spread of the filaments constantly varies as the filaments are withdrawn from the hollow handle. Therefore, the drummer need only pull the filaments out far enough to achieve the spread necessary to give him the desired sound effects.

When it is desired to retract the filaments 18 from the position shown in FIGURE 2 to the position shown in FIGURE 1, the drummer need only grasp the filaments 18 and push them directly into the hollow handle 10. Due to the relatively large diameter or thickness of the plastic filaments, with respect to the prior art wire brushes, the drummer does not have to worry about piercing his hands with the ends of the filaments. Also, the use of the plastic filaments precludes the bending of the filaments thereby prolonging the life of the brush member. Any particular filament can be bent backwardly along the handle and when released will snap back to its original position to achieve the desired uniform spread of the filaments.

What is claimed is:

1. A drum brush comprising a hollow cylindrical handle member having one end thereof provided with a substantially oval-shaped opening, a plurality of plastic filaments of substantially equal length having one end thereof extending into said hollow handle through said oval-shaped opening and means for holding the ends of said filaments together within the hollow handle to prevent the complete withdrawal of said filaments through said opening.

2. A brush as set forth in claim 1 wherein the number of said filaments is such as to completely fill the substantially oval-shaped opening to provide a friction fit.

3. A brush as set forth in claim 2 wherein said means for holding the filaments together is provided with a weighted portion adapted to balance the brush in its extended position.

4. The brush as set forth in claim 1 wherein said handle member is constructed of plastic material.

5. A brush as set forth in claim 1 wherein the other end of said handle is provided with closure means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,513,930 7/1950 Goldrich 84-422 2,728,257 12/1955 Pochobradsky 84-422 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

LAWRENCE R. FRANKLIN, Assistant Examiner. 

